Lions, hyenas, and more!
Lions, hyenas, and more!
Today was a day for adventure! For those of us who were feeling well enough to (many of us have been battling stomach issues) we started our day with a buffet breakfast at 5:45am. There were many options to choose from, like toast, eggs, fresh-squeezed juice, and fruit (the types of fresh-squeezed juices we’ve had are pineapple, pineapple-lemon, apple, mango, watermelon, passion fruit, and maybe a few more!). At 6:15, we headed into the savannah on the search for animals. We had received rain and thunderstorms the night before so the animals were all out! Uganda is currently experiencing a long drought in waiting for the rainy season to come, so the animals had renewed strength with the rain. Through the dirt roads we saw many species: hyenas, different monkeys, like baboons, many birds ranging in size and color, wild dogs, hippos, and antelope galore, like wildebeest, kobs, and the cute little oribies. We also saw water buffalo, giraffes, warthogs, elephants and lions! We spotted a lioness laying down protecting her most recent kill, an antelope. If she hadn’t moved her head we wouldn’t have seen her; her camouflage was so pristine! She was very relaxed with us a few yards away from her and managed to take a little “cat nap” as she waited for her family to come. Her pride consisted of 3 lionesses with 3 cubs. The cubs were a pleasure to watch as they romped and played with one another without a care in the world. We continued driving around searching for the male lion and the leopard who were very elusive and avoided our sight.
At 11:00 we picked up the rest of our team to head to lunch at another lodge. The Paraa building and grounds were lovely! We sat out on the deck where we were treated to a 3-course meal. Many of us opted out on so much food as our stomachs had shrunk in our brief time here. The appetizer was mushroom soup, there were four entrees to choose from with 4 different sides and three different desserts. I personally chose the pasta dish with peach tartlet as dessert. Yum! During lunch we were entertained by a warthog who happened to graze right next to a sign that read “Caution Wild Animals”. I couldn’t resist taking that photo! Did you know that when grazing on an incline warthogs drop down to their front knees to avoid straining their legs? Cool!
From lunch we headed to the Nile River to take a river safari ride. We naturally split our group half and half between the two levels. The ride was very smooth. As we came across wildlife the staff would stop by the banks for us to get a better look as they told us about them. We saw many hippos, some crocodiles nesting, birds who lived in carved out holes in the cliffs, a family of 15 elephants with their 3 calves, antelope, giraffes and water buffalo. The ride gave us much needed relaxation with the river breeze blowing all around us. I happened to notice that the grasses on the savannah side were dead and brown while on the opposite rainforest bank they were green and luscious. After an hour or so we came upon Murchison Falls. What a sight to behold! After taking our pictures and selfies we headed back to bay.
Our safari guide and driver, Wilson, took us back through the savannah to reach our lodge after stopping for a few more pictures of animals. We swam in the outdoor pool until sunset (didn’t want any animals jumping in with us lol) and had a nice buffet dinner. I personally had rice topped with pea soup, fruit and bread as I couldn’t enjoy that too much the night before with my stomach bug. There were many options to choose from and we all got something different. After getting an average of 4-5 hrs of sleep each night for the past 1 1/2 weeks we looked forward to going to bed “early” and sleeping in. It was an enjoyable day!
Courtney
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